The thing about security updates:
Sure, ditching your phone when it doesn’t get any more updates is the safest thing, but I can’t bring myself to do it for environmental reasons.
My phone runs Android 6, which currently has a 1% market share.
Who designs and deploys new malware that can only affect 1% of devices, most of which are probably secondary phones that only connect via Wifi behind a NAT by now? I’m not too worried about that.
There are many retroactive exploits in media renderers and web renderers that get fixed in newer security updates but are exploitable on every old version including Android 6. NAT doesn’t save you against that.
Malware that can hit Android 6 can probably also hit Android 7, 8, and 9. Obviously how you use the device makes a difference, but the malware is still being made and you have to be careful.
The thing about security updates:
Sure, ditching your phone when it doesn’t get any more updates is the safest thing, but I can’t bring myself to do it for environmental reasons.
My phone runs Android 6, which currently has a 1% market share.
Who designs and deploys new malware that can only affect 1% of devices, most of which are probably secondary phones that only connect via Wifi behind a NAT by now? I’m not too worried about that.
sent from my Samsung Galaxy J5
There are many retroactive exploits in media renderers and web renderers that get fixed in newer security updates but are exploitable on every old version including Android 6. NAT doesn’t save you against that.
Malware that can hit Android 6 can probably also hit Android 7, 8, and 9. Obviously how you use the device makes a difference, but the malware is still being made and you have to be careful.